Shanta Griffin is a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Center for Connected Health and also at the Center for Evidence Based Images (CEBI)/Decision Systems Group (DSG) lab in Radiology. "My work has involved designing decision support tools for clinicians to help reduce avoidable duplicate CT exams, which is an issue that has gained some attention in the public due to contributing to increased risk of developing cancer due to radiation exposure. I am also examining the meaningful use of picture archiving and communication systems (PACS) data within our integrated health system. Meaningful use is a hot topic due to being a provision in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. My work is timely and exciting as I am able to relate it to issues that are important to the public and healthcare systems. I am also completing a graduate level Biomedical Computing course at MIT, which has expanded my knowledge and use of medical natural language processing, and Bayesian Graphical Models to name a few topics covered this semester. I am in a great lab, and it is a perfect fit for my career goals and personality. My lab is ethnically diverse, and our skills and experiences complement each other very well. We have come to depend on each other and value our unique contributions. My lab is very interactive and engaging. We give regular presentations and updates on our research and hear feedback on our ideas from scholars and clinicians from our hospital, who are a part of our research group. My mentors are supportive, down to earth, and we enjoy working together. Being a BIRT fellow has exposed me to some of the most recognized and successful leaders in this field who are willing to make themselves accessible to me. I look forward to going to work because I am doing what I love and working with genuinely nice people. My research interests include developing decision support tools for clinicians and telehealth tools for patients. I want to participate in research that will have a direct and measurable benefit (such as improving quality of care, self care management, satisfaction, and reducing barriers to care for ethnic minorities). My projects reflect my passion to participate in designing/making tools that are exciting and fun, easy to use, and practical. I cannot imagine doing anything else as a career, and I am grateful to the BIRT fellowship for taking me into their family. I spend my free time: learning to play my acoustic guitar, playing video games with friends, dancing and listening to local bands, writing short stories and poems, and getting lost in the Boston neighborhoods."
Previous Education
- PhD, University of Nebraska-Lincoln - 2004